Constitutional Recognition. We all want it. Tony Abbott states
that it is really important to us to be recognised in the Constitution of
Australia. This issue forms part of the official policy platforms of the
Coalition, the Labor Party AND the Greens. It is supported by many lobby groups
such as the ACTU, Oxfam and ANTaR. The Recognise campaign is moving from one
end of the country to the other, engaging with Australians on this issue and
highlighting why it is important. There are many photos showing prominent
Australians lending their support to this campaign. In short: Indigenous
Australia want to be recognised in the Australian Constitution, and they want
it now.

Or so we’re being told anyway. The truth of the matter is
that this issue, like many other issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people, has attracted a variety of opinions. Opinions which, for the
most part, are not being conveyed to the general public whom it is hoped will
make the right decision on our behalf if this does go to the polls. Opinions
which are actually being ignored by our politicians as a way of avoiding any
real engagement with our communities or pretending they have a sound policy
position on our affairs.

My own position on this issue is irrelevant here, but I do
wish to highlight that right now one of the key oppositional voices to
Constitutional Recognition in the media is none other than Andrew Bolt. Bolt
has stated that recognition would be “racist” as it would divide the country by
highlighting a specific group of people rather than focussing on all just all
being considered “Australians”. The thing is I don’t particularly care what he,
or the many other non-Indigenous commentators (including the so-called
“Constitutional Conservatives”) have to say on this issue. Not when there are
oppositional voices coming from our own sovereignty movements, such as some
Tent Embassies and Idle No More. There is a rich and diverse debate going on
within our own communities from some incredibly intelligent and active people
on this very topic and it has been going for a long time. So why is it that
most Australians are not being exposed to Indigenous debate on this topic, and
how on earth can they make an informed decision about whether being constitutionally
recognised is the best thing for us when they go to the polls?

At this point in time, I feel the diversity of our views are
being curtailed more than ever. The politicians and the media telling the
general public what it is that First Peoples want is not remotely a new
phenomenon, but whilst this is going on our ability for participation in
democratic process has been systematically eroded. Take the Indigenous Advisory
Council to the Prime Minister, for example. Unlike preceding bodies such as the
ATSIC or the National Congress, there was no process during the formation of
the IAC for community to have a say in who represents us at a parliamentary
level. For any perceived flaws of either ATSIC or Congress, at least both held
community elections. The chair of the IAC was hand-picked by the Prime Minister.
The members of the IAC were then picked from a small pool of self-nominated applicants.
I am certain some of the people who put their names forward are good people who
work in a variety of fields, but this doesn't change the fact that we did not
select them. Democracy is supposed to be a core value of the Australian
political system yet this value does not seem to apply when it comes to our
community and how we're represented at the highest level of governance in this country.

It’s a shame that we are about to lose one of the
consistently hard-hitting and progressive news sources when it comes to
Indigenous issues. I write for the mainstream media on occasion but generally,
I have found that voices like mine are an anomaly within it. The mainstream
media plays a huge part in the homogenising of Indigenous voices. They do this by printing pieces by Indigenous
commentators whose views are most aligned with their readership and their corporate
values. In this country, where the conservative NewsCorp holds such a majority,
the population tends to be most exposed to conservative Indigenous opinion. I am
not saying that conservative Indigenous voices are not important. They are. I
just strongly believe that we need voices across the entire political spectrum
so that we can curtail racism wherever it's encountered and expose the
population to broader views. There are only so many times that mainstream
Australia can read how Aboriginal people just need to pull themselves up by the
bootstraps and stop “playing the victim” before this becomes the only accepted
truth and attempts to critically examine structural barriers to Indigenous
success are given no space at all. It’s for these reasons why we have trouble
highlighting racism when it is encountered. After all, we’re all responsible
for ourselves and need to just get over it, don’t we?

Perhaps in the past it was deemed important that our debate
was held behind closed doors as it was important to portray a united front to
the broader Australian community. Certainly, that’s what I was told growing up.
Unfortunately nowadays, with the amount that our voices are being twisted to
suit mainstream population agendas rather than the other way around, this
method no longer works. We have our representatives being dictated to us, our
policy positions being dictated to us; all to be absorbed by the mainstream
with little-to-no engagement with broader Indigenous opinion. We’re diverse,
educated and intelligent people with a long and proud history of autonomous
decision making in this country yet we are being told over and over again that
this is not the case. We deserve so much better.

About Me

Arrernte, feminist, hard left, trade unionist, with a taste for protopunk.
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